


Five times Crystal kissed Lee (and one time Lee kissed Crystal)

by leila_samia



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-28
Updated: 2010-05-28
Packaged: 2017-10-12 03:10:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/120125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leila_samia/pseuds/leila_samia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A kiss that speaks volumes is seldom a first edition.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five times Crystal kissed Lee (and one time Lee kissed Crystal)

**Five times Crystal kissed Lee**

 _Going down to Margaritaville (I was fine until the tequila shots)_

She had called him, clearly upset and crying, and the thing about Crystal was that she's a rock until suddenly she's not, until she has time to let go, until she's taken on too much, and now she wasn't, she was hurt and sad and "please Lee, I'm so sorry, I just don't want to be alone right now." And he'd never been able to say no to her, not since the beginning, not since their auditions when she'd looked him up and down, calculating, and told him to play something for her. Not since she'd walked out with a golden ticket and she looked for him and her grin lit up and she'd said "I'll see you in Hollywood, right?" Not since they made top 24 and she'd leaned into him and said, low enough for his ears only, "us at the finals, promise, Chicago to the Nokia, it'll be awesome." He'd never said no, not on the stuff that mattered, so at ass o'clock in the morning he found himself driving to her place wearing whatever he could grab off the floor – seriously, he needed to do laundry – and trying not to push his foot to the floor, making himself drive at almost a normal speed.

And when he'd parked in front of her condo, feeling like he'd taken way too long to get there, and bounded up the stairs to her porch, he forced himself not to pound down the door. He knocked on the door like he wasn't worried, and his exhausted brain thought it was kind of hilarious, because if he wasn't worried why else would he have driven over here, and he ignored the other voice in his brain mocking him, the one telling him that he had other reasons, he ignored it and knocked again. And when she didn't answer, he panicked, wondering if something had happened in the ten minutes it took him to drive over and he thought about calling the cops or something, and then remembered he had a key to her place, the one she'd given him when she got the condo, "just in case," she'd said, and he figured this fit into "just in case." He opened the door, calling her name, and followed the melancholy sounds of a guitar strumming, finding her on the couch with her guitar, surrounded by sheets of paper and several empty bottles.

He resisted the urge to rush over to her, instead leaning on the door frame, casually. "Hey," he said, like it wasn't 2 am, like she hadn't called in tears, like it was just any afternoon and he'd happened to stop by to work on a song or something.

She looked up then, not startled, but as if she didn't know he'd already come over, had let himself in. "Hi," she replied, a hitch to her voice that could have been tears and could have been the beer. "I didn't, sorry, you didn't have to, I shouldn't have…" She trailed off, looking down at her guitar. He crossed the room to the couch, sat next to her, reached out a hand to touch her, thought better of it. She looked up at him again, tears in her eyes. "We broke up," she said.

"I know. And uh," he said, gesturing to the room. "I kinda figured?"

She laughed, a hiccupping laugh that hurt to hear. "Right. I told you. But, um…" she trailed off again. He reached his hand out again, resting it on her knee, rubbing circles with his thumb. "It's for real this time, I think it's over," she said.

His hand froze and he swallowed once, twice. "O-kay. Uh. Well...did he, or you, or..." he stuttered. He took a deep breath, swallowed down his anger that anyone could hurt Crystal like this. "Crystal, what happened?"

She looked at him, no longer crying. "He, Lee he proposed!"

"Um. He, wait, what?" Lee tried to sound supportive, but had no idea where this had come from. "He proposed and you..."

"I said no! And he didn't, it wasn't..." she stopped herself, calmed herself. "I didn't expect it, and I should have, because how long had I dropped hints, you know?" she said, eyes wide and confused. He nodded, because he knew, she'd joked about it, the jokes laced with an undercurrent of hurt, and he was hurt for it, hurt because she hurt and hurt because someone else got to propose. "The thing is, he proposed and I thought it was what I wanted and I went to say yes and that's not what came out and then he got kind of upset and I don't even know why I said no, but then he was looking at me, and he laughed and thought it was a joke. And then he was just like, okay so, and I tried to laugh it off and tried to say yes, and I couldn't. Lee, I couldn't say yes. I just...I told him no again, and that I was sorry, but I didn't want to marry him, and then he got mad and we started to fight and I don't even know what we said, but I think I said I didn't think I'd ever marry him and he walked out."

Lee scooted closer to her, kept himself calm, didn't say anything he'd regret, didn't say anything that would make her hurt, or hit him or throw him out. "Uh, okay, well, did...I mean, was there, did you..."

She glared at him then, looking so like herself that he felt better, kind of, almost okay that she'd turned it on him, so he pushed her knee, and that was okay too. She shoved him back, and she seemed like she was okay again, or she would be. "There wasn't anything else, it just. I got it, you know, that he had never proposed because it wasn't right and he was only doing it now to make me happy and that doesn't work, and he doesn't need that, and I don't need that and you know, Tony doesn't need that either." Her lip quavered a little, and he finally wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. "I know I didn't want it and I know this is for the best, but it still hurts," she sobbed. "It still hurts that I'm alone."

He tightened his hold on her, pet her hair, tried to sound comforting. As she cried against him, he tried to think of something to say, something that didn't have him telling her why she wasn't alone, why she'd never be alone with him there, but he couldn't, not now, not today, not like this. So he let her cry, and he held her, and he hurt for her, and he ignored everything else.

When she was done crying, she pulled back, wiped her eyes, looked at his shirt. "Oops," she laughed, hiccuping.

He laughed too, shaking his head. "It's fine, it's fine, don't worry," he said. He handed her a napkin from the coffee table. "So, uh. What do you want to do now?"

She wiped her eyes, grimacing at the scratch of the napkin. "I wanna get fucked up drunk and write really depressing songs. There's a case of beer in the fridge, or what's left of it. I think you left one of your guitars here. Start drinking."

So Lee went to the fridge, found much less than a case left, grabbed what was in there. Heading out to the back porch, he stopped at the desk, picked up some paper and pens, rooted around for the secret stash of cigarettes Crystal left in there. He joined her on the patio, opened two beers, and handed her one before sitting down and taking his guitar.

An hour later, they'd finished the beers. Convinced they had to stay up and "see the sunrise, Lee, it's almost time anyway," Crystal had made her way unsteadily back into the house. Lee lit another cigarette, took a drag, leaned his head back. He was tired and his head was hurting from the time and the drinking, but Crystal seemed like she was doing better, so he'd stay and watch the sunrise with her, whatever she wanted, anything to keep her from looking at him like she had inside.

Crystal returned, carrying a bottle of...something. He sat up, leaned forward, squinted his eyes. It was a half-full (empty?) bottle of warm, amber liquid, and Crystal already had the top off, had raised it in the air. "Tequila!" she exclaimed. "I think we need this," as she shoved it into his hand, liquor sloshing in the bottle. He took it from her, looked up at her, narrowed his eyes. She rolled hers, snatched the cigarette from his hand, took a drag, inhaled deeply. She sat in front of him on the chair, gestured to him. He rolled his eyes, took a long swig, feeling the burn down his throat. He coughed, flipping her off when she laughed at him. She took it back, took another swig, cleanly, like she was mocking him. He flipped her off again, feeling warm when she laughed loudly, pretended it was the tequila.

An hour later, he was leaning back in the chair, Crystal leaning against his chest, Crystal running a hand along his side, Crystal warm on him. He ignored how it felt, focused on the steady stream of words coming from her, closed his eyes. He wasn't dozing, he wasn't, but she sat up and startled him, so he opened his eyes. She was leaning in, face close to his, eyes unfocused.

"Lee," she said quietly. He tried to sit up, but he was drunker than he thought. She leaned in closer. "Lee, thank you. You're my best friend, I love you so much." He tried to answer, but she was so close, she was right there, and then she leaned forward and her lips met his and she was kissing him, and this was such a bad idea. He brought his hand up to her shoulder, pushed her lightly.

"Crystal," he said, voice hoarse. He tried again. "Crystal, don't. This is, you don't..." Her face fell, and she sat back, lip quivering again. He closed his eyes. "Crystal, you're really drunk, and I'm here, and you, you don't want this, you should go to bed."

She looked down, eyes welling up with tears. "Yeah. I guess. I'm just..." She stood up, wobbling a little. He jumped up too, grabbing her arm.

"Crystal. Come on. Let's get you to bed." He guided her in the condo, into the bedroom.

She made her way to the bed, sat down heavily on it. He turned to leave, when she called his name. "Lee. Could you. Do you think, maybe, could you...could you stay?" He turned back to her, looked at her on the bed, looked at her curling in on herself. "I just...I don't want to be alone, not tonight."

He crossed the room, came back to the bed, sat next to her, swung his legs up. She curled in next to him, lay her head on his chest. He brought his hand up to her head, pet her hair. He closed his eyes.

"Lee," she murmured. He hummed a response. "Lee. Thank you for staying." She yawned. "You really are my best friend. I love you so much." He closed his eyes more tightly, trying to shut out the wish that it meant something else, that it wasn't her hurt and alone. He wrapped his arm around her more tightly. "Lee," she said again. He hummed again. "We didn't get to watch the sunrise."

"Next time," he said, low. "Next time, I promise."

 _Between a rock and a hard place (Sometimes, the choice is never a good one)_

After the finale, he'd talked to all the past contestants. They all had, actually. They'd gotten stories about tour, heard the good and the bad, heard about the crazy fans and the awesome crowds. And they'd all gotten stories about the long stretches on the buses, the evenings stuck in the interchangeable hotel rooms. But they were still so giddy over the night, giddy about the results, giddy about rehearsals and touring. Even the thought of being stuck in close quarters for three months wasn't enough to temper their excitement.

Of course, after a month on the tour, Lee was starting to feel it. Yeah, it was fun, and yeah, he kept busy because he had to travel all the time to record his album, but he was really looking forward to a break, just a few days with nothing to do. They had a rare two nights in one hotel, and the mood was excited among the group. No bus, no close quarters, actual beds – this was heaven and luxury, or at least what passed for it these days.

He'd hoped for the chance to just faceplant onto his bed and sleep for two days, but Andrew was knocking on his door and "Lee, if you don't open the fucking door, I'm coming in." Lee groaned, regretting giving Andrew his extra key, before getting up to open the door.

Andrew was standing in the hall, holding a bottle of tequila. "Come on, man! Party in Siobhan's room, move your ass!" Lee groaned again, but tucked his key card in his back pocket and closed the door, following Andrew down the hall.

Everyone was waiting in the room, beer and chasers to go with the tequila, and several bags of chips and a few boxes of pizza. Lee slipped in behind Andrew, grabbed a beer, made his way to Crystal. She seemed more refreshed than he did, which wasn't fair, since it wasn't like she got more rest. He scowled and she rolled her eyes.

The night was low-key enough, and if they happened to pour drinks for Katie and Aaron, well, none of them were going to say anything. Somebody, probably Katie, suggested playing truth or dare, and it was probably a testament to their giddy exhaustion that they all thought this was a good idea. They were silly, coming up with stupid questions and even stupider dares, when somebody, probably Katie again, dared Crystal to kiss Lee, and Lee sputtered on his beer, tried to protest.

Crystal put down her beer, wiped her hands on her pants, shrugged her shoulders. Lee opened his eyes wide, protested some more about how that wasn't how they were playing, that wasn't a good idea, but Crystal was already crawling towards him, and now was seriously not the time to think anything currently rushing through his mind. She sat back on her heels in front of him.

"Well?" she asked. "It's just a game, Lee." But it wasn't, it wasn't just a game. But then she smiled, eyes crinkling, and he smiled back, looked down, suddenly bashful. Crystal leaned forward again, kissed him lightly, chastely, on the lips. Their friends whooped and catcalled, and Crystal sat back again, snagged her beer, and raised it for a toast with Didi. Lee rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, looked down again, blushed. When he looked up, Crystal was looking at him, smile on her lips. Then she turned to Mike, announced "Truth or Dare!" and moved back to her seat.

 _For love of the game (If you build it...)_

Crystal had a thing for hosting cookouts. Whether at her condo in LA or her dad's place in Ohio, if she could find an excuse for one, she'd host one. Lee would rearrange his schedule if he was in the same area, just to make sure he could go. This one was celebrating the end of her tour, and a bunch of their friends were there, and her band, and Tony was back from his summer with his dad. Lee had walked in the door and found himself with an armful of Tony, excited to see him, yelling for his "Uncle Lee, you're here, you came, you promised to show me how to use my glove!" And Lee had promised, when he bought it for Tony's birthday, so he nodded, let himself be dragged out to the front yard. He stood, trying to figure out how to teach him. He squatted down next to Tony, explained it to him, how to stand, how to hold his glove, how to use both hands. Then he moved a few feet away, on his knees, and lightly tossed the ball to Tony. He missed – of course, the kid was four, Lee wasn't expecting anything, but Tony was sure this meant he couldn't do it, and his lip quivered, and it reminded Lee so much of Crystal. He held up his hand, reassured Tony, promised that they'd keep trying until he caught one. He tossed another, then another, then another, losing count, until finally Tony caught one and threw it back, and then one turned into ten, and Crystal was calling them in, telling them the hot dogs were ready. Lee slowly stood up, followed Tony inside.

Tony rushed to his mother, excited to have done so well, asking "mommy, did you see me, did you see how I did, were you watching?"

And Crystal nodded, and scooped Tony up, spun him around. "I did, baby, of course I did! I wouldn't miss that, watching my favorite boys. I'm so proud of you, baby, you did so well!" She kissed him on the top of his head before putting him down. He ran off.

Lee shuffled his feet, feeling suddenly awkward, which was weird and awkward on its own, because this was Crystal, it was never awkward, not really. She gave him a side-eye glance, cocked an eyebrow. Before he could figure it out, she was on her tip-toes, leaning in. She dropped a kiss on his temple, then dropped back, rocking on her heels. "I'm proud of both my boys," she said, before walking into the kitchen. "Come on," she said, over her shoulder. "There's margaritas out back."

 _One last time (or Say it like you mean it)_

Before their performances on Tuesday, Lee caught Crystal looking distracted, but when he asked her, she shrugged him off, telling him it was just nerves, that he shouldn't worry. Then she grinned, reminded him to bring it. He smiled back, nervous and tight, and told her he would. And then she performed like she had something to prove, like she wasn't going to make it easy for him, and he wanted to give it to her then, let her win just so that he'd get to see her perform like that always.

After the show, backstage, she told him that Tony had broken up with her, but it wasn't a big deal. "And honestly, we'll sort through this after…this. You know, just, when it's done and whatever, we'll figure stuff out. We're fine." She sounded sure, like she didn't need convincing of it, and he wished he did need convincing, like he didn't feel as sure as she sounded, like he didn't feel like he knew they'd be back together by the time tour rolled around.

Wednesday, Crystal peeked out to the front row the whole show. Checking to see if Tony would show up. She told him she wasn't, then laughed and admitted she was. "I just wanted to see, you know, if he'd at least be here to support me, as friends, but maybe not. Maybe he can't."

"Maybe it's too hard to see you, you know, since he loves you," Lee said, choking out the words. It made Crystal happy though, and she smiled at him brightly before going out for her duet ("Alanis, Lee, oh my god, they got me ALANIS"), and he watched from the wings, watched her prowl the stage.

After they sang – which, seriously JOE COCKER, when did he get so lucky – Debbie ushered them to their marks, and Ryan came on stage. Crystal grabbed his arms, gripped them tightly, let out a little scream. He brought his hands up, gripped her arms, before pulling her into a hug. He released her first, stepped back. Right before the commercial break ended, Crystal stepped on her tip-toes, hugged him again, wished him luck, before kissing him on the cheek, right next to his mouth. Then she stepped back, on her mark, ready for Ryan.

And before he had a chance to even think about the kiss, the way her lips felt on his skin, the way she felt pressed against him, suddenly Ryan was announcing his name and asking how he felt, and all he could think was "Crystal, I love you." And then he realized he'd actually said it, in front of everyone, on tv, in front of America, and everyone on stage was hugging him, and Crystal pushed her way to the middle of the circle, pulled him close, hugged him again, said in his ear "Congrats, I'm so proud of you, I love you too." And then he was singing again, and it was all he could do to tell himself that she meant it the same way.

 _The Real Deal (Sometimes it's worth the wait)_

Sometimes, Lee wondered what he'd done to get this lucky, to get to tour around the country – the world, actually – and sing his songs, and play guitar all the time. And he got to share this with his friends, and if he was perfectly honest with himself, the big part of that was sharing it with Crystal. It turned out that they worked really well together, which he should have known, because their duet had been awesome, and they sang together on the Idol tour, and yeah, he was kind of in love with her, and it was for the same reasons that made them work so well together.  
So when the powers that be suggested they tour together, looking at it as a way to fill seats for two stars without having to pay for two tours, Lee jumped at the chance. Crystal had called as he walked out his meeting, excited, asking if "you've heard, tell me you said yes, you have to say yes, it'll be awesome!" And since he's never been able to say no, not that he'd want to for this, he said yes he had heard, and yes he was going to say yes, and yes this was going to be awesome.

And it was better than he'd ever expected, because all the things that made him lucky – the touring, and the singing and the playing his songs and playing guitar for everyone – all of it was better when Crystal was there. Somehow, she made touring even more fun, made playing even better. He fed off her energy, fed off the energy of the crowd in a different way entirely, and it was AWESOME.

Even better, they had these duets planned, songs they'd each written and discarded for their albums because it turned out they were meant to be duets, but now that they were touring together – and he always had to repeat that, reverently, like he was surprised it was together and not just happening at the same time – they had a place to do these songs. They started just doing them as encores, both of them coming back on stage, after their sets, to the sounds of applause. But then they'd drop them in the middle of each set, one walking on stage to join the other. And the crowd reaction was always exhilarating, always a rush.

His favorite was still that encore. They'd trade off nights, one going first, then the other in the next city. And after the last song, whoever went last would rush off the stage, and the other would be waiting there. Together, they'd wait for the applause and the chants and the electricity from the crowd. And in the wings, they'd look at each other, still excited each night, still able to get that rush from everything. And they'd hug, and grip each other's arms, and she'd lean up and kiss his cheek, and it was like that night at the Nokia, before he won, before he got it, before everything became clear.

And then one night, it wasn't the same. It was her, running off the stage, joining him in the wings, just like normal. It was her running to hug him, just like normal. It was her, leaning up to kiss his cheek, just like normal. Only it wasn't normal, because this time, the kiss wasn't on his cheek, it wasn't even a near miss like the first time. This time, she gripped his arms, she pulled him into a hug, she went on her tip-toes, and then she kissed him for real, a soft press of lips, quick against his, and it wasn't very different, not really, except for the look on her face when she pulled away. That look said that this, this wasn't an accident, or a friend, this was for real.

She smiled at him, grabbed her guitar again, tossed him a look over her shoulder. "Come on, let's go give them a show."

 **And one time Lee kissed Crystal**

 _Always yours (can't believe your luck)_

They had gotten really good at writing together. They'd gotten really good at writing for each other, which was never part of the plan, but they knew each so well, knew what the other would like, knew what would work for the other. Lee always knew where to find Crystal if he came over and she didn't answer, if he was the one to let himself in. He knew she'd be in her basement, surrounded by papers and guitars, wearing her glasses, pen in her hand. It was a scene he'd walked in on a lot before, and he'd walk in on a lot more in the future, and it was where she was today.

She looked up, turned to face the door when he came in, gestured impatiently with a sheet of paper. "Look this over, what do you think?"

He came up behind the couch she was on, leaned over the back, looked at the song in her hand. Looked at her, smiled. She leaned back to look at him, an uncertain smile on her face. He leaned down to her, kissed her lightly, still always surprised that he got to do this, that this was okay. "It's good, it's really good."

She smiled again. "Yeah? You think it works?"

He kissed her again. "Yeah. It works."


End file.
